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Worlds Collide: Parts 1-3, Let’s Get This Party Started!

A little back story to set the stage; issue 200 is kind of a big deal for any comic and Sonic was no different. Aptly called Genesis, the arc started mean ol’ Robotnik, I’m not calling him Eggman, up and decided that things were better way back when so he built a machine to put everything back the way it was when the comic started out. Long story short, it was a major, reality warping event that was a loving homage to all things Sonic but felt short lived and had relatively little aftermath for the heroes to deal with. Well now the events of Genesis are back with the “Genesis Wave” being the start button for this, sure to be, roller-coaster.

“Worlds Collide” starts off how you’d expect from a crossover. The two major villains from either side find each other and decide to take over their respective worlds, like any good villains would do. They do this by pitting Mega Man and Sonic against each other thanks to either ones respective evil clone while at the same time rounding up maguffins and all Sonics friends and turning them evil via plot shenanigans. Sounding formulaic? Well that’s because it is. Still, we have formulas because they work and this is about Mega Man and Sonic so if anyone else is getting some screen time any excuse to get the pummeled half to death is a good way to make them relevant.

Not much else happens in these three issues. The focus here is setting up story and letting us know the: who, what, where, and why with one big, fat fight scene at the end to remind us that this is an action series. Seriously, the third issue is just Sonic and Mega Man wailing on each other. Not that it was a bad thing. After nothing but exposition and set up it’s nice to see some tried and true fist-to-cuffs. So far everything is dancing to the beat of a great crossover, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any room for improvisation.

Often times, when one or more of these Saturday morning type villains get together it’s usually 10 seconds before someone’s ego gets in the way and everything falls apart. This usually happens right before they actually do some damage which gets old fast. It’s this big, almost inevitable, trope that happens again and again and it gets old really quick. One of my favorite things about this arc so far is that Mr. Flynn knows the pattern and is smart enough to poke fun at it to no end. If there’s a scene with Robotnik or Wiley, one way or another some sort of pissing match starts: whose nemesis is better, who had a larger role in the master plan, what to name the arbitrary flying fortress of terror. Yet, each time it ends in some quirky, happy go lucky, B.F.F. sort of way. It’s a nice change of pace to see mad scientist veterans actually getting along rather than egocentric morons who can build death machines that defy every known law of physics but can’t quite seem to outsmart a bunch of cocky teenagers. They are also acting intelligently. Both have been bested by their nemesis more than once and they’re giving both of an appropriate amount of focus and fear.

Right now Robiley is/are making massive strides towards their goal. Mega Man and Sonic are utterly convinced that the other is just another bad guy to get beat down; completely oblivious to what’s really going on. Obviously this won’t last for long, but just remember that things are just started and there are a lot of twists and turns we have yet to see.

The guys at Archie actually kept this in mind when starting this adventure and have done a great job balancing the continuity and availability. There’s enough continuity to keep long time readers like me interested but it’s written such that pretty much anyone can jump right in. Like all things, it’s best if you start from the beginning but Ian Flynn does a good job in catching up the reader at the start of every issue. So the short answer is, yes it is.

I don’t know why, but I am always skeptical about these kind of events. I feel that they are just a ploy for more people to pick up the comic and plots are often tossed aside in favor of the attempt to crossover at all costs. Is this the case with this crossover?

The word is that this is will result in some major changes in the Sonic universe. Given that there’s been some copyright issues with the character created by former writer, Ken Penders, I’m inclined to believe that there will at least some changes to the Sonic universe. I honestly I can’t say much about the Mega Man universe. It’s a baby compared to Sonic and to have some big alterations to it now seems like jumping the gun a little. There is a plot device in place that can “reboot” the universe to make it so that nothing happened however Ian Flynn is breaking the mold enough with this crossover to leave me hopeful that your fears won’t come to pass. Trust me, with the last few years of comics I’m just as skeptical, if not more so, about these kinds of events but I’m six issues in and I’m still reading so somebody is doing something right. Sorry for the late reply and check out Worlds Collide Parts 4-6 for more updates on this fun little adventure.